


Survival Instinct

by annalise_k



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 18:18:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8543995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annalise_k/pseuds/annalise_k
Summary: Negan offered Kate safety and protecton so in return she willingly became a spy for him. But after she got too close to a man named Richard during her latest mission in The Kingdom, Negan's trust in her begins to fade away which has dangerous consequences...





	

She needed to see him for one last time before leaving The Kingdom later that night. Getting attached to people was usually something Kate tried to avoid, after all it's not like she was planning to return to the places where she stayed in the future. But for some reason, despite the age difference, Richard was something different and he’d managed to get under her skin within mere minutes following their first encounter.

Even though it was late, she met several residents on her way to his quarters. Some were just sitting outside, chatting about meaningless things to pass time while others simply took a walk or went for a run; it was so disgustingly peaceful that Kate felt sick to the stomach. Every now and then she had a feeling these people were like a bunch of hippies, believing their life could be just as normal as it had been before the outbreak. Never mind the fact they were now living in the middle of the apocalypse.

But Richard was nothing like them and it was killing her because everything would’ve been way easier if every single person in The Kingdom was a delusional village idiot. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door, secretly hoping he wasn’t home after all.

After long seconds Richard eventually opened the door and he looked extremely tired, as if he hadn’t had any sleep in days. Well, he’d been out all day with the rest of the team, she should’ve known better than to expect him being wide awake now. "Kate? What are you doing here?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I know it's late, it's just that... I don't know, I just wanted to see you."

"No need to apologize, come in." Stepping aside, he silently watched her moving past him. Soon he followed, running a hand through his short hair like he was trying to wake himself up. "Do you want anything to drink?"

The entire situation was so ridiculous. What the hell was she even thinking when she came here? "No, thank you," she finally answered, still thinking about turning around and running away.

"Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look nervous.

“I just can’t sleep, that’s all,” Kate began to explain, her every word being a lie as she followed the man into his home. When they came to a halt in the living room she anxiously stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Would it be weird if I asked you if I could sleep here tonight?”

For some reason Richard didn’t look surprised at all, as if he’d been expecting to hear this question. Before saying a word he walked across the room, straight to the small closet in the corner where he kept some of his clothes apparently. “Weird isn’t the word I would use,” he began to explain with a smile. “I think it’s adorable.” There he kept a short pause to hand her a clean shirt. “It should be much more comfortable for sleeping than the clothes you have on.”

Kate wanted to make a teasing comment but decided not to and simply took the shirt from him with a small, grateful smile on her lips. She quickly replaced her shirt with his and even took off her jeans since the shirt itself was long enough to cover her up. Not like he hadn’t seen her naked before, though. “Thanks for letting me stay.”

“Are you kidding me?” Richard asked with a short laugh while he stepped closer and put his hands on the sides of her neck. “I’m glad you’re here. But I can see that something’s wrong so if you want to talk about it, just know that I’m here, okay? I know this place can be a little too much at first after being out there alone for a long time.”

Part of her felt terrible for lying to him about almost everything. She didn’t want to do it, especially after beginning to think about sticking around to be with him. But sadly staying wasn’t an option because it would count as betrayal which could result in both of them dying. Richard didn’t deserve this so leaving was the only possible choice she had.

To avoid having an actual conversation she hugged him, resting her arms on his shoulders with her hands folded behind his neck. “Can we just go to sleep, please? I don’t really feel like talking tonight.”

Nodding, Richard kissed her forehead and said, “Okay, come on then.”

While Kate knew most people decorated their quarters to make it feel like an actual home, Richard didn’t seem to care about such thing. His bedroom had a double bed in one corner and a simple table on the other side, but that was it. No pictures, no personal items from his previous life placed on the table, nothing that would make it really _his_ place. For a short moment she wondered why it was this way, if there was a reason for his decision to keep things this simple, but she quickly pushed these thoughts aside.

Even though they’d only met no more than three weeks before, going to bed with him without the simple and only intention to have sex felt perfectly natural, as if they were an actual couple living together. Hell, he’d stayed by her side when she got sick a few days back. Being the head of security meant that Ezekiel trusted him enough to let him take care of her, which he did, giving her his undivided attention until she got better.

“Why did you let me stay tonight?” she suddenly asked after he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body closer to his chest. He let out a questioning hum that made her draw in a deep breath. She had to remain calm so she wouldn’t accidentally tell him something he didn’t have to know about. “We’ve pretty much just met but you’re… I don’t know, I just think what’s happening between us might be a little too fast.”

“Do you regret what we did?”

“God, no! I really, really like you actually.” As she stopped for a moment, Kate put her hand on top of his, slowly intertwining their fingers. “I think I’m just afraid of losing you. Which, to be honest, scares me even more considering how long we’ve known each other.”

Laughing quietly, Richard kissed the top of her head. “We’ll see how this works out, okay? There’s no need for you to be freaking out so soon,” he told her calmly. “Try to get some sleep now, you clearly need it.”

Kate didn’t have to be told twice because having him so close helped her fall asleep within minutes, and she could only hope she would wake up in time later on. At least there were no dreams that night, no memories of the horrors that’d followed the global outbreak. This time she was perfectly safe; safer than she was back in her so-called home where she had no one like Richard. Here, in this very room, she didn’t feel lonely at all.

When she opened her eyes later that night, the room was still dark and Richard was sleeping peacefully on the other side of the bed. Turning on the backlight of her watch she realized that no matter how badly she wanted to stay there with him it was still time to go. As she stood up, Kate moved very slowly and carefully to make sure she didn’t wake him, even though she had to fight a strong urge to go back and kiss him for one last time.

Once outside, she went straight to the weakest point of The Kingdom’s border, a place she’d discovered during her first days there. Not far from there a car had possibly been waiting every night between two and four o’clock to give her a ride back home, so finding that place was her only mission for the rest of the night. Luckily it wasn’t such a hard task and only an hour later she finally occupied the passenger’s seat of the old pickup truck. For the first time ever this moment didn’t feel like she was saved from hell. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

The driver, a young man she’d barely known, gave her a strange look. “We’ve been coming back here for days, what the fuck took you so long?” he suddenly questioned her.

“What’s happening here is none of your business and I sure as hell don’t have to answer your questions. Now start the damn car and let’s go,” Kate ordered quite angrily which surprised him enough to start the car and drop the topic.

After several weeks it was strange to be back in the Sanctuary, mostly because the system there was almost the exact opposite of the one in The Kingdom. Yet this was the only place she could call home these days and here she didn’t have to play the role of the innocent young girl who’s pretty much a damsel in distress. That was nothing more but an act, a necessary evil to get what she needed.

The rooftop of the old factory was the usual spot where she gave a report to her boss about these little missions of hers and this time wasn’t any different. Kate stood there, leaning against the massive metal railing as she waited for the man to arrive. She was grateful for this short free time because she needed every single second to think about what to tell him; what information she should hand over to him and which parts to leave out. Richard was definitely a person who belonged to the latter group.

“And here I was, thinking about sending some idiot in there to see if you’re still alive.” Turning towards the source of the familiar jovial voice she noticed Negan who was slowly closing the distance between them. “You were supposed to be back days ago, Katie, and I don’t like to be kept waiting. Come on, if anyone, you should know that by now,” he added with a wide smile, pointing Lucille at her.

She tried to remain calm. She had to be calm. Or, at least, she had to make it look like she was absolutely calm and everything was perfectly fine. “Yeah, well, sometimes it’s not that easy to leave without being caught,” she offered a hopefully believable answer.

“What happened?” Negan asked her, his voice so flat and cold that it made her feel nauseous. “They found out why you were there?”

“Nothing happened.”

Suddenly he burst out laughing and if she hadn’t known him better Kate would’ve assumed he was in a really good mood. But it wasn’t the case; he was just slowly losing his patience which usually manifested in a behavior that made it look like he was having fun. Well, he wasn’t. “Holy shit, that’s a first for us. You’re lying to _me_!” he told her, still laughing. “What the fuck is going on here? Are we in some twisted alternate reality?”

“Look, can we just talk about what I found? I’m really tired and I could use some sleep.”

"I hate liars. And do you know who hates them even more than me? Lucille. So you'd better start talking, princess, because I might find myself properly introducing her to that pretty little head of yours for the very first time,” Negan began to tell her, his voice now deep and threatening as he gently poked her neck with Lucille.

"Negan, please believe me; nothing happened." To finally change the topic she took out a small pile of Polaroid photos from her backpack and handed them over to him. "Here are some pictures I took. Their leader calls himself Ezekiel,” she began to explain as he went through the pictures. The fact he wasn’t looking directly at her helped quite a lot and she managed to gain enough confidence to give him an actual report. “And guess what he has as a pet? A fucking tiger. A real, breathing tiger on a chain."

This made him turn back to her with wide eyes and a huge smile. "Are you shitting me? Well, I gotta admit it sounds pretty awesome. Maybe I should get myself one too." Kate only nodded with a small but clearly forced smile on her lips. "It looks promising, maybe- What the hell? Do they really make their kids go to fucking school?"

"Yep, they do. Total weirdos," she replied with a nod.

"Who's this guy?

Kate looked at the picture he held up and her entire body froze. The man in question was none other than Richard. "No one, I forgot to throw this one out," she lied, knowing perfectly well it wasn’t the only picture. She wanted to keep those as a reminder of the time she’d spent there. Damn, she was turning into some annoying fangirl.

"And here's another picture of him, and another one.” Negan tossed every single picture to the ground and visibly tightened his grip around Lucille. “Katie, don't want me to start counting to three. I'm going to ask you this one more time: who's this guy? A new boyfriend of yours? Or you were simply stalking him?"

There it was again, that bone chilling laugh and smile. Even jumping off that rooftop seemed to be a better idea than hiding the truth from him so she said the only thing that came to her mind, “A mistake." It was true in a way since she wasn’t supposed to get attached to anyone therefore this short word was the only thing that could possibly calm Negan down, at least for a short while.

"Good answer. It better stay that way in the future, sweetheart, because I want quite a lot of what they have. You having feelings for any of them might cause me some trouble so don't fuck it up for me. I set some rules for you in the very beginning and I'd very much like you to stick to them, otherwise I might get angry."

"Don't worry, I'll behave."

"That’s what I love to hear, princess. It’s good to have you back.” Negan put a hand on her shoulder and as his grip slowly tightened he leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “Now listen to me very carefully. I don’t care he fucked you or not, the moment I get my hands on that guy he’s as good as dead. I don’t like the idea of you doing something that’s against my rules. Also, you’re grounded: no spying in the future so get used to the idea of sticking around for a while.”


End file.
